Saturday, 5 May 2018

Well done Barabara @barbaracarrollaz! You will receive this beautiful shopping tote, hand made by Sarah Becvar as well as an embroidered card,

Sarah has chosen Barbara's photo as the winning entry, below, because "both flower and butterfly are perfectly captured and beautifully coordinated! The colours and patterns in both subjects are exquisite. Amazing photography!"

The good news it that there are also three runners up who will each receive one of Sarah Becvar's lovely freehand, machine embroidered cards!

First Runner up:

@juliemoo1960. Sarah says "This is a great collection of natural items, and full of inspiration. The texture and colour of the wood and the hessian with this pretty posy is styled beautifully".

Second Runner up

@cornishhomemade. Sarah commented "What a stunning view. I find it incredibly calming looking out to sea and this captures the coastal greenery as well as a beautiful sea. A perfect environment to reflect and clear our minds".

Final Runner up

@happily_ambling. Sarah found this "such a lovely picture of this bluebell wood. Walking through natural environments is so beneficial. Not just mentally, but inspirationally and this captures a woodland walk perfectly. I’d love to walk in this wood!"

Thank you so much to all you you for playing along.A big shout out too, to Sarah, for being so generous and donating some lovely products as well as the unenviable task of judging the winning entries. Thank you Sarah!Until next time.Claudia x

Read
below about what inspires Sarah to create such lovely designs and to find out about her creative process.
Sarah also shares some tips for selling and online web design.

1. Sarah,
have you always been interested in creating and what inspired you to sew using
botanical/nature based themes?

SB: I grew up
on a dairy farm, surrounded by acres of beautiful Sussex countryside, orchards,
farm animals and plenty of wildlife! As a child I would gather handfuls
of items that I’d collect from my surroundings such as leaves, shells, tree
bark and plenty of flowers, and from an early age I would sketch them or make
collages of my nature finds.

2. What
artists inspire you and why?

SB: My
inspiration still comes from my natural surroundings. I often refer to my old
botanical guide books to identify flowers, but also love studying the botanical
drawings and the aged, muted colours. I was fortunate to find Sketches For The Flora which is a volume
of field sketches by W. Keble Martin (published in 1972) to which I refer. His
simple line drawings give clarity to the form of the flower I may be
drawing.

3. How do
you stay focused when you are building up stock for your website or a
market?

SB: I enjoy
each step of the construction of my products whether it’s a greetings card, bag
or artwork and it gives me great pleasure to hear the lovely feedback from my
customers which encourages me and keeps me engaged.

4. For
someone's starting down the track of selling art and crafts, what is the best
piece of advice you could give?

SB: Some
advice to someone who’s in the early stages of selling their work would be to
have confidence and belief in their product. I prefer to give a brief
description of how I make the product as I feel it’s important to explain that
the item is handmade, and it gives the product a ‘story’.

5. What
tips do you have for crafters/artists setting up a website or selling online?

SB: I
designed and constructed my own website which has been an enormous learning
curve, but I have fulfilled my brief of a site that is clear, simple and
sophisticated with ease of navigation. It is the product that needs to stand
out with a clear call to action. Keep things simple in a style that reflects
your work.

6. What
are you happiest doing creatively and why?

SB: I am at
my happiest creating a new piece of work, from its initial sketches through to
drawing it in thread on my sewing machine. I often sew straight onto the fabric
without drawing the design onto the fabric first, and find this incredibly
exciting! Seeing the lines of stitches appear before you, forming an image on a
blank canvas, is a wonderful feeling.

7. Where would
you like to be creatively in five years' time?

SB: I hope to
run freehand machine embroidery workshops where I’d love to teach my processes
and encourage people to try freehand machine embroidery themselves. As I have a
background in textile design I’d like to design more fabrics which incorporate
my sketches and have discussed publishing a book using images of my freehand
embroidery. I feel so fortunate that I enjoy what I do and am surrounded
by a constant source of inspiration enabling my creativity to have a constant
flow.

Thank you, Sarah!

-------------------------

To celebrate Sarah's charming work, Sarah and I would love you to join us in a photo challenge on Instagram and the theme is nature!

Sarah is offering a beautifully embroidered
shopping bag and hand made card to the winner and two runner’s up will each receive one of her
enchanting sewn cards.

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

There was much talk at the beginning of the year by many on Instagram about choosing a word for the year. I decided fairly early on that it would be give. It's so easy to get stuck in the trap of making and creating and getting too attached to your work. So I decided I would make and give away. It's been a fun and refreshing experience.

So to thank you for tagging and to celebrate #thebotanicalseries tag reaching well over
20 000 tags, I am giving away this original collage, titled 'Evince'.

To be in the draw to win this original, please write a comment on my Instagram post that shows this photograph. The giveaway closes Sunday midnight, New Zealand time and I will randomly select a winner on Monday (open worldwide).

Monday, 5 February 2018

Firstly, a big thank you to those of you who have played along with thephotochallenge #ab_inthemomentseries with Ann Davis@annld60 and I on Instagram. It's such a buzz seeing photos deliberately taken for the theme.

Thanks also to Ann for taking on a promoter and judge role. Ann very kindly selected the winners and has written a few words about each of the winning entries.

Ann writes-

"Thank you Claudia for inviting me to judge the 'In the Moment Series' photochallenge on Instagram. These are my selected winners."

... and from me - Thank you Ann - your generosity to support the challenge and help promote it is greatly appreciated!

About the winners, Ann says:

"Kathy @prairiepeony took her tulips that were gracefully falling apart and began to work her creativity. Thecolors, composition and styling along with her beautiful words were a perfect 'In the Moment' photo."

"Jill Meyer @jillemeyer2796 loves nature and is a master of improvising.Cold and snowy, Jill gathers her favorite things, a cup of tea, books, a flower.Her photo speaks to the moment and I wanted to jump right in and start reading one of her books."

"Nella @floral_passion had a calmness in her photo.I could imagine Nella sitting in the house reading, drinking her tea and looking out the window, calmly waiting for the rain to stop."

"Mayumi Ichiryu @atelier_cocon_m works magic in her photography with her beautiful ribbons, antiques and of course her J'immy the Mouse'. This picture spoke to the moment with bringing back winter. If only for the moment."

Well done to all our winners and thank you again for taking up the challenge. There were so many beautiful entries and deciding who the winners were, was no easy task.

To the winners - to redeem your prize, please email adiandbert@gmail.com or DM @adiandbert on Instagram with your postal address and I'll pop along an Artful Blogger magazine in the mail to you.

Thursday, 11 January 2018

The photographer, Ann Davis (@annld60 on Instagram) and I have collaborated and will host a
competition to win one of three Artful Blogger magazines (recent Nov/Dec/Jan 2018 issue of the magazine).

This magazine is produced by Stampington &
Company that publishers a range of other magazines that you may be familiar with, including Bella Grace, Artist’s Café
and A Somerset Holiday etc. For more
of their beautiful publications, to sign up to newsletters or read their blog, visit Stampington & Company.

Ann, who is an accomplished photographer, loves flowers. Her speciality is taking photos of bunches of lush flowers in vintage
vases using white backgrounds. Seeing her photos in my feed as I browse
Instagram, is an uplifting moment in my day.

I asked Ann a few questions about her photography and what inspires her.

1.Have you always been interested
in creating and how did you become involved with photography?

We had cameras around our house from the time I was
eight years old. I became the family photographer. In college, I took my first
Photography class. When I met my husband 42 years ago, he liked taking pictures
and it has been our hobby ever since.

x

2.What photographers inspire you and why?

Claire Brocato (@claireb_photography Claire photography on
Instagram) is inspired by many of the things in
life that are important to me -nature,
traveling and flowers. Her use of colour and composition is so inspirational.

Another favourite is Barb Brookbank (@keepingwiththetimes on
Instagram). Barb’s
photography is so inspirational every single day and her willingness to share
information about gardening, styling, learning, food…. there are so many more …
but I think I will stop here!

3.What
are you happiest doing creatively and why?

I love taking pictures, whether it is on a road trip with
my husband, walking the neighbourhood, snapping flowers, or still life in the
studio. They all make me happy and contribute to my wellbeing.

4.How do you store your
images and what editing tools do you use?

I store my photos on both my computer and an external hard drive (always). I use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit my photos and have taken many Kim Klassen @kimklassen classes to help me with both Lightroom and my still life photography.

5. What approach do
you follow when you find you are creatively stuck?

When I am
creatively stuck I will do one of two things. Go for a walk or cruise around Instagram
looking for inspiration.

6.Having a word for the year has become really
popular. What is your word to work / live by and that you will follow as your mantra?

I am still using
the same word, or should I say phrase, with a few variations and that I chose a
few years ago. Embracing the moment.
For me I have found that I seem to do better if I live in the moment. You will
see me using Embracing Stillness - to
help me slow down, Gratitude and I am
going to use Kindness too this year.

Keeping Ann’s beautiful images in mind, this
photographic challenge is to capture the little moments in life
that are meaningful to you or that bring you stillness.

Inspiration can come from incidental everyday moments
that make you smile or give you a feeling of wellbeing, or that represents your chosen
word for the year.

It could be as simple as the way a fabric falls in the light, or a
steaming cup of tea on a chilly day or a simple curation of your foraged items.

To participate and be eligible to win one of the Artful Blogging issues in the competition, you need to:

Monday, 1 January 2018

It’s such
a feast for my tired eyes to walk from my garage through my laundry into my
house and view sweet pea blooms
through the laundry window. It's an instant lift after a stressful day. The scent of
the sweet pea certainly is sweet as
its name suggests. It is fresh and unmistakable.

Sweet peas
were so popular in the early 1900s in England, that the Victorians started the
English National Sweet Pea Society. And why wouldn’t you - the varieties and
abundance of flowers at that time would be nothing like today and such elaborate botanical design and fragrance most certainly needed celebrating.

This
climbing rambler has tendrils to help it wind its way through neighbouring
plants. Providing a climbing frame is a way to help train the vine upwards and
to be able to show off the blooms. New varieties now include
a shrub-like sweet pea for which you do not need to provide supporting
structures and en masse or in a border, look spectacular.

Sweet peas
are like clematis in that they like their flowers to be in the sun and their
roots cool and shaded, so covering their roots and surrounding soil with pea straw enables them to flourish. If you want information about cultivating sweet peas, The Old Farmer’s Almanac site has some
useful tips and advice.

Now that I’m on
my summer holiday, I’ve cut some of my little crop of sweet peas and they are
sitting on my dresser in a vase for me to enjoy their distinctive fragrance every
time I walk by.

I have noticed over the years that I wear
more mauve and pinks as I grow older, but I am not so sure I am ready to wear this heady purplish-violet colour yet.

What about your wardrobe, do you like these bright striking violet colours? According to Gogol
Bordello, it’s time to start wearing purple my friends! This You Tube clip made
me smile and I hope it will make you smile too.

And finally, since it's my first blog post of the year, I felt it called for a
little poetry and I was rather taken by this poignant poem by E Clearfoster Sheppard (Nov.2014).

Ultraviolet

You
mesmerize
With eyes like the Sun; But
blind me, just the same.

For now
I'm left in darkness, clueless
In Oblivion. The world
is now Invisible. So

You are
all I see;
And You are all I can. So
more I stare in

Pain & Wonder

How you
hypnotize
My mind. Now I stare and
wonder how I'm happy
Being blind.

---------------------

I hope to be more regular with my blog posts this year and intend to do a post every month, inspired by a plant in my garden. I hope you will follow along.

Have a wonderful year and I hope that only good things will come out of life's trials and tribulations - that with every sorrow there will be joy, and with every hardship there will be release. And keep on being creative- Claudia x

Saturday, 23 December 2017

Creating an advent calendar using bits and pieces collected from my 100 days projects provided a catalyst to spark the imagination for my gratitude journal leading up to Christmas. I wasn't sure what I was going to say each day, but let the composition speak to me and guide my thinking about what I was grateful for. There is so much. This is what I shared on Instagram over the 25 days.

Grateful for the light after dark

and the rain that ends the drought

for the abundance of choice

and the spring that chases winter out

Grateful for the rhythm of daily life

for the connections that bring us together

for the fruits of our labours

and the fortitude we have for the hardships that we weather

Grateful for the place that is home

and for the fragrance of the rose

for the wonder of language

and for the music that life grows

Grateful for the sound of birdsong at the break of day

and the respite to be found in a cup of tea

for the richness of life and the wisdom of age

for experience to know when to let it be

Grateful for writers and their wild imaginations

and the beauty of tumbling waves that rush to the shore

for the thoughtfulness of friends

and for enough, not needing more

Grateful for the forests and those who protect them

for the routines of the everyday

for the proponents of peace who soldier on

and for the abundance of love that has come my way

Especially grateful. For today. It's Christmas.

It's my Birthday.

Hope you have a peaceful Christmas with the people that you love and that the new year brings you many good things - Claudia x

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About Me

I am a librarian by trade and a creative at heart. My blog name adi&bert comes from a blend of names- my mother, Adeline aka Addy, who was a savvy and creative business woman who sewed, painted, dressed hair, hats and wigs and died far too young. The second part of my brand name is from my father, Albert (aka Sonny), who had a musical touch and could hold a note or two.
Recently I have been using my blog and Instagram profile to help promote the work of artisans and makers. Some of them are developing their businesses and run them with ethical and sustainable intentions. I collaborate with them by running competitions on their behalf on Instagram. If you would like to work with me, I would love to hear from you. I run 'series' competitions; so we choose a theme that suits the business .e.g. #theperfectlyimperfectseries, #thebotanicalseries. See my blog for feature articles about the businesses and series titles.